A Novel Vision of Reinforcing Nanofibrous Masks with Metal Nanoparticles: Antiviral Mechanisms Investigation.

Prevention of spreading viral respiratory disease, especially in case of a pandemic such as coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19), has been proved impossible without considering obligatory face mask-wearing protocols for both healthy and contaminated populations. The widespread application of face masks for long hours and almost everywhere increases the risks of bacterial growth in the warm and humid environment inside the mask. On the other hand, in the absence of antiviral agents on the surface of the mask, the virus may have a chance to stay alive and be carried to different places or even put the wearers at risk of contamination when touching or disposing the masks. In this article, the antiviral activity and mechanism of action of some of the potent metal and metal oxide nanoparticles in the role of promising virucidal agents have been reviewed, and incorporation of them in an electrospun nanofibrous structure has been considered an applicable method for the fabrication of innovative respiratory protecting materials with upgraded safety levels.

An Overview on Immunity Booster Foods in Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19).

The present COVID-19 pandemic is highly terrible for the respiratory system and is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It has affected millions of people globally and over 511.9 million cases and 6.2 million deaths have been reported across the world. Various drugs have been repurposed, however, no specific medicine has been approved by the FDA to combat this disease till date. In this condition, researchers have attracted to natural and safe products to improve immunity to viral infections through inhibiting viral cell entry, replication, and modulation. Various natural products, probiotics, and nutrients have antimicrobial, antiviral, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antiproliferative activities, and some of the compounds are also utilized as traditional medicine in Ayurveda, Siddha, and other cultures. This review provides a clinical perspective on the application of herbs for the prevention of viral infections.

An alarming public health concern over variability in herbal compositions of marketed immunity booster products during COVID-19: A botanical survey-based study

The world is going through pandemic of the century named COVID-19 disease. The COVID-19 pathogenesis involves cytokine storm in advanced stage leading to systemic hyper-inflammation. Medicinal herbs are practiced as part of alternative therapies in addition to clinically approved drugs with strong belief of its safety and efficacy. In present times, many herbal immunity booster products are available in market which claims to boost immunity for fighting against COVID-19 in prevention and cure. In this study, herbal products with tag of Immunity boosters were surveyed from medical stores and studied for their botanical contents. We surveyed 60 herbal products out of which 31% were tablets and rest were other forms like capsule, decoction and avaleha. Among the products, 17% products were from Dabur followed by Himalaya, Zandu and rest other leading brands of herbal market. Total 98 plants belonging to 50 diverse plant families like Zingiberaceae, Lamiaceae, Piperaceae and Apiaceae were reported being used in these products. Including Fruits (19%), Root (18%) and Leaf (17%), total 20 different plant parts were found used as medicinal herbs. These herbal products were having 10.27 ± 14.02 herbs with range of 56 indicates huge ingredient variation among the products. This diversity in products poses serious health concern in buyers who do not know the safety and efficacy of immunity boosters, being used in COVID-19 pandemic. © Copyright by International Academic Publishing House (IAPH)

Pomegranate peel polyphenols prophylaxis against SARS-CoV-2 main protease by in-silico docking and molecular dynamics study.

Pomegranate peel, the waste product generated from pomegranate fruit, has prophylactic properties, such as antimicrobial, anti-malarial, and controls respiratory infections and influenza. Based on the previous literature and need of the hour, molecular docking was performed to evaluate the inhibitory effects of major pomegranate peel polyphenols against COVID-19. Among the 44 studied compounds, 37 polyphenols show interaction with the catalytic dyad of the Mpro protease and 18 polyphenols have a higher binding affinity than that of the Mpro protease inhibitor (N3), indicating their high probability of binding at ACE2: SARS-CoV-2 interface. Furthermore, several polyphenols studied in this work are found to have higher binding affinity as compared to those of hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, nelfinavir, and curcumin, some of which have been earlier tested against COVID-19. Further, molecular dynamics simulations (200 ns) for Mpro-polyphenols including pelargonidin3-glucoside, quercetin3-O-rhamnoside, cyanidin3-glucoside and punicalin revealed highly stable complexes with less conformational fluctuations and similar degree of compactness. Estimation of total number of intermolecular hydrogen bonds and binding free energy confirmed the stability of these Mpro-polyphenol complexes over Mpro-curcumin complex. Based on the greater binding affinity of polyphenols of pomegranate peel towards Mpro as compared to that of curcumin, pomegranate peel may be considered in any herbal medicinal formulation or may be incorporated into daily diets for prevention of COVID-19.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Method development and validation for quantification of six bioactive compounds (andrographolide, columbin, piperine, gallic, paracoumaric and oleanolic acids) by HPTLC.

OBJECTIVES: During the spread of pandemic diseases, immunity boosting herbal drugs are taken as a preventive medicine. Kapacurak Kutinir Curanam is a Siddha drug used for flu like viral infections, cold and fever. Developing an analytical method to estimate the content of active phytoconstituents in such antiviral immune boosting drug will be useful in the phyto pharmaceutical industry. METHODS: A precise, reliable and sensitive ordinary phase high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) method has been developed and validated for identification and simultaneous estimation of six bioactive components namely like andrographolide, columbin, gallic acid, ρ-coumaric acid, piperine and oleanolic acid from any Indian traditional medicine, medicinal plant, drugs and food materials etc. The separation was achieved on silica gel 60F254 TLC plates using toluene: ethyl acetate: formic acid (7:3:0.5, v/v) as mobile phase. The gallic acid, ρ-coumaric acid, piperine markers were estimated using the densitometric scanning in absorption mode at 254 nm. The densitometric scanning was done after derivatization (vanillin-sulphuric acid reagent) at λ=520 nm for andrographolide, columbin and oleanolic acid. RESULTS: The linear regression analysis data for the calibration plots showed a correlation coefficient in the concentration range 1-5 µg per band for the bioactive markers with respect to area. The method was validated for accuracy, precision, limit of detection (LOD), and quantitation of limit (LOQ). CONCLUSIONS: Developed method was accurate, precise and fast to ensure the quality of Kapacurak Kutinir Curanam.

Functional constituents of plant-based foods boost immunity against acute and chronic disorders.

Plant-based foods are becoming an increasingly frequent topic of discussion, both scientific and social, due to the dissemination of information and exchange of experiences in the media. Plant-based diets are considered beneficial for human health due to the supply of many valuable nutrients, including health-promoting compounds. Replacing meat-based foods with plant-based products will provide many valuable compounds, including antioxidants, phenolic compounds, fibers, vitamins, minerals, and some ω3 fatty acids. Due to their high nutritional and functional composition, plant-based foods are beneficial in acute and chronic diseases. This article attempts to review the literature to present the most important data on nutrients of plant-based foods that can then help in the prevention of many diseases, such as different infections, such as coronavirus disease, pneumonia, common cold and flu, asthma, and bacterial diseases, such as bronchitis. A properly structured plant-based diet not only provides the necessary nutrients but also can help in the prevention of many diseases.

Giloy: a potential anti-COVID-19 herb with propitious pharmacological attributes: a short review.

Plant-based medicine actually restores the balance in the body instead of treating the source of the disease. The strain of coronavirus (SAR-CoV-2) going to be more serious due to the lack of a reliable treatment option. Holistic treatment for this disease is in the form of Ayurveda as traditional medicine. As the infection of coronavirus is spreading like a wildfire, so the one way to fight is 'immunity'. Building immunity is the only way to stay safe and healthy and prepared themselves for the ongoing pandemic. In the current scenario, good immunity safeguard us from disease progression and prevention from this deadly virus. Giloy herb came into the limelight after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic due to its immunomodulatory and antiviral activity. The genome sequencing of Giloy is proved to be a breakthrough for controlling the COVID-19.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and immunity booster green foods: A mini review.

This review focused on the use of plant-based foods for enhancing the immunity of all aged groups against COVID-19. In humans, coronaviruses are included in the spectrum of viruses that cause the common cold and, recently, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Emerging infectious diseases, such as SARS present a major threat to public health. The novel coronavirus has spread rapidly to multiple countries and has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. COVID-19 is usually caused a virus to which most probably the people with low immunity response are being affected. Plant-based foods increased the intestinal beneficial bacteria which are helpful and make up of 85% of the immune system. By the use of plenty of water, minerals like magnesium and Zinc, micronutrients, herbs, food rich in vitamins C, D and E, and better life style one can promote the health and can overcome this infection. Various studies investigated that a powerful antioxidant glutathione and a bioflavonoid quercetin may prevent various infections including COVID-19. In conclusion, the plant-based foods play a vital role to enhance the immunity of people to control of COVID-19.

An ethnomedicinal field survey report on traditionally used plants by the Nepalese of Alubari Jungle Busty in Darjeeling Himalaya as potential immunity booster and fever-related herbal drugs

As a result of several ethnobotanical field visits in and around Alubari Jungle Busty of Darjeeling Himalaya from August 2012 till May 2019, mostly new ethnic uses of different plant parts including dosimetry of 24 wild plant species were documented. Documentation was based on oral interviews with experienced and elderly Nepalese people mainly in respect to immunity boosters and instant remedies against fevers including COVID-19. Some plant parts which were also used by the Nepalese of Alubari Jungle Busty as blood purifiers, lowering high blood pressure, energy provider during a long walk, diarrhoea, chronic piles, bronchitis, asthma, throat pain, cold and cough, were also documented. Present work also embodies botanically authenticated binomial names of documented wild plant species, vernacular names, knowledge informants, voucher information, live photographic documentation and study area map. © 2022, National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources. All rights reserved.

Immunomodulatory role and potential utility of various nutrients and dietary components in SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Recently, the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome cornoavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has become a great perturbation all around the globe and has many devastating effects on every aspect of life. Apart from the oxygen therapy and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, Remdesivir and Dexamethasone have been proven to be efficacious against COVID-19, along with various vaccine candidates and monoclonal antibody cocktail therapy for Regeneron. All of these are currently at different stages of clinical trials. People with weak immunity are more prone to a severe infection of SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, early and judicious nutritional supplementation along with pharmacological treatment and clinician collaborations are critical in restituting the current situation. Nutritional supplements help in acquiring strong immunity to prevent the progression of disease any further. Vitamin C, vitamin D, selenium, zinc and many other nutritional and dietary supplements inhibit the production of inflammatory cytokines during a viral infection and prevents several unwanted symptoms of infection. Many dietary components like citrus fruits, black elderberry, ginger, and probiotics have the ability to attack viral replication. These supplements can also tame the overriding immune system during coronavirus infection. Keeping in view these facts, nutritional and dietary supplements can be used along with other management modalities. These nutritional and dietary supplements are potential candidates to curb the convulsive unfolding of novel COVID-19, in combination with other standard treatment protocols. In this review, various search engines were used to exploit available literature in order to provide a comprehensive review on nutritional and dietary supplements with respect to the viral infections. It will also provide a brief overview on some of the clinical trials that are in progress to assess the role of nutritional supplements, either alone or in combination with other pharmacological drugs, in fight against COVID-19.

Natural Immunity Boosters as Therapeutic Interventions in the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

COVID-19, a pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2, has been spread all over the world and is responsible for serious fatalities. SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the family of ß-coronavirus that affects pulmonary gas exchange and triggers cytokines storm. Vigorous inflammation, hyper-coagulation, a decrease in the lymphocytic count, and an increase in the neutrophilic count are observed in the second week after the onset of the disease. Fever, dry cough, sneezing, shortness of breath, and respiratory distress are the symptoms of COVID-19. The use of sanitizers, social distancing, vaccination, wearing gloves and face masks, and other preventative measures are all important in preventing coronavirus outbreaks. People with weak immunity are more susceptible to coronavirus. Various natural immunity boosters are known for their immune boosting properties; among them are vitamin C, D, and B complex, medicinal mushrooms, plant-based stuff, and minerals play important roles by increasing the beneficial flora of the human body. All these natural immunity boosters improve the innate and adaptive immune response against coronavirus. Hence, we conclude that the use of natural immunity boosters prevents the attack of coronavirus and makes a person stronger against the suspected attack of COVID-19 and/or other viral diseases.

Unravelling the Immune Modulatory Effect of Indian Spices to Impede the Transmission of COVID-19: A Promising Approach.

Months after WHO declared COVID-19 as a Global Public Health Emergency of International Concern, it does not seem to be flattening the curve as we are still devoid of an effective treatment modality and vaccination is in the first phase in many countries. Amid such uncertainty, being immune is the best strategy to defend against corona attacks. As the whole world is referring back to immune-boosting traditional remedies, interest is rekindled in the Indian system of Medicine, which is gifted with an abundance of herbal medicines as well as remedies. Among them, spices (root, rhizome, seed, fruit, leaf, bud, and flower of various plants used to add taste and flavors to food) are bestowed with immense medicinal potential. A plethora of clinical as well as preclinical studies reported the effectiveness of various spices for various ailments. The potential immune-boosting properties together with their excellent safety profiles are making spices the current choice of phytoresearch as well as the immune-boosting home remedies during these sceptical times. The present review critically evaluates the immune impact of various Indian spices and their potential to tackle the novel coronavirus, with comments on the safety and toxicity aspects of spices.